“When I got home
that night as my wife served dinner, I held her hand and said, I’ve got
something to tell you. She sat down and ate quietly. Again I observed the hurt
in her eyes.
Suddenly
I didn't know how to open my mouth. But I had to let her know what I
was thinking. I want a divorce. I raised the topic calmly.
She didn't seem to be annoyed by my words, instead she asked me
softly, why?
I avoided her
question. This made her angry. She threw away the chopsticks and shouted at me,
you are not a man! That night, we didn’t talk to each other. She was weeping. I
knew she wanted to find out what had happened to our marriage. But I could
hardly give her a satisfactory answer; she had lost my heart to Jane. I didn’t
love her anymore. I just pitied her!
With a deep sense
of guilt, I drafted a divorce agreement which stated that she could own our
house, our car, and 30% stake of my company. She glanced at it and then tore it
into pieces. The woman who had spent ten years of her life with me had
become a stranger. I felt sorry for her wasted time, resources and
energy but I could not take back what I had said for I loved Jane so
dearly. Finally she cried loudly in front of me, which was what I had expected
to see. To me her cry was actually a kind of release. The idea of
divorce which had obsessed me for several weeks seemed to be firmer and
clearer now.
The next day, I
came back home very late and found her writing something at the table. I didn’t
have supper but went straight to sleep and fell asleep very fast because I was
tired after an eventful day with Jane. When I woke up, she was still there at
the table writing. I just did not care so I turned over and was asleep again.
In the morning she
presented her divorce conditions: she didn’t want anything from me, but needed
a month’s notice before the divorce. She requested that in that one month we
both struggle to live as normal a life as possible. Her reasons were simple:
our son had his exams in a month’s time and she didn’t want to disrupt him with
our broken marriage.
This was agreeable
to me. But she had something more, she asked me to recall how I had carried her
into out bridal room on our wedding day. She requested that every day for the
month’s duration I carry her out of our bedroom to the front door
ever morning. I thought she was going crazy. Just to make our last days together
bearable I accepted her odd request.
I told Jane about
my wife’s divorce conditions. . She laughed loudly and thought it was absurd.
No matter what tricks she applies, she has to face the divorce, she said
scornfully.
My wife and I
hadn’t had any body contact since my divorce intention was explicitly
expressed. So when I carried her out on the first day, we both appeared clumsy.
Our son clapped behind us, daddy is holding mommy in his arms. His words
brought me a sense of pain. From the bedroom to the sitting room, then to
the door, I walked over ten meters with her in my arms. She closed her
eyes and said softly; don’t tell our son about the divorce. I nodded,
feeling somewhat upset. I put her down outside the door. She went to wait
for the bus to work. I drove alone to the office.
On the second day,
both of us acted much more easily. She leaned on my chest. I could smell the
fragrance of her blouse. I realized that I hadn’t looked at this woman
carefully for a long time. I realized she was not young any more. There were
fine wrinkles on her face, her hair was graying! Our marriage had taken its
toll on her. For a minute I wondered what I had done to her.
On the fourth day,
when I lifted her up, I felt a sense of intimacy returning. This was the woman
who had given ten years of her life to me. On the fifth and sixth day, I
realized that our sense of intimacy was growing again. I didn’t tell Jane about
this. It became easier to carry her as the month slipped by. Perhaps the everyday
workout made me stronger.
She was choosing
what to wear one morning. She tried on quite a few dresses but could not find a
suitable one. Then she sighed, all my dresses have grown bigger. I suddenly
realized that she had grown so thin, that was the reason why I could carry her
more easily.
Suddenly it hit
me… she had buried so much pain and bitterness in her heart. Subconsciously I
reached out and touched her head.
Our son came in at
the moment and said, Dad, it’s time to carry mom out. To him, seeing his father
carrying his mother out had become an essential part of his life. My wife gestured
to our son to come closer and hugged him tightly. I turned my face away because
I was afraid I might change my mind at this last minute. I then held her in my
arms, walking from the bedroom, through the sitting room, to the hallway. Her
hand surrounded my neck softly and naturally. I held her body tightly; it was
just like our wedding day.
But her much
lighter weight made me sad. On the last day, when I held her in my arms I could
hardly move a step. Our son had gone to school. I held her tightly and said, I
hadn’t noticed that our life lacked intimacy. I drove to office…. jumped out of
the car swiftly without locking the door. I was afraid any delay would make me
change my mind…I walked upstairs. Jane opened the door and I said to her,
Sorry, Jane, I do not want the divorce anymore.
She looked at me,
astonished, and then touched my forehead. Do you have a fever? She said. I
moved her hand off my head. Sorry, Jane, I said, I won’t divorce. My marriage
life was boring probably because she and
I didn’t value the
details of our lives, not because we didn’t love each other anymore. Now I
realize that since I carried her into my home on our wedding day I am supposed
to hold her until death do us apart. Jane seemed to suddenly wake up. She gave
me a loud slap and then slammed the door and burst into tears. I walked
downstairs and drove away. At the floral shop on the way, I ordered a bouquet
of flowers for my wife.
The salesgirl
asked me what to write on the card. I smiled and wrote, I’ll carry you out
every morning until death do us apart.
That evening I
arrived home, flowers in my hands, a smile on my face, I run up stairs, only to
find my wife in the bed -dead. My wife had been fighting Cancer for months and
I was so busy with Jane to even notice. She knew that she would die soon and
she wanted to save me from the whatever negative reaction from our son, in case
we push through with the divorce.— At least, in the eyes of our son—- I’m a
loving husband….
The small details
of your lives are what really matter in a relationship. It is not the mansion,
the car, property, the money in the bank. These create an environment conducive
for happiness but cannot give happiness in themselves.
So find time to be
your spouse’s friend and do those little things for each other that build
intimacy. Do have a real happy marriage!
If you don’t share
this, nothing will happen to you. If you do, you just might save a marriage.
Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to
success when they gave up.
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Got it here. Thanks for sharing.